<html aria-label="message body"><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">Ridge Trail Leading to<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Awachi</i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">The Estero Americano Creek</div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">snakes her bluish way</div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">around the brown hills—</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">dotted by windbreak clusters</div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">of cypress and eucalyptus,</div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">and the lowing of cows<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">in the distance.</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">Wild iris, now dormant,</div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">gets trampled underfoot.<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">An occasional cow patty.<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">Five bleached bones</div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">from a cow’s hip and leg.</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">Four o’clock fog sweeps in.</div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">Thin wafts embrace<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">the hillside. The sound of surf<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">pounds my ears,</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">as it did the Miwoks<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space">'</span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">for thousands of years</div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">by the Estero’s mouth</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">where wooded hills drop<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">as steeply as<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>fjords</i></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">to their village,<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Awachi</i><i>—</i></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;">crushed underfoot.</div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 22px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Raphael Block</div></div></body></html>